1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



445 



CAN COMBS AFFECTED WITH AMERICAN 

 FOUL BROOD BE FREED FROM DISEASE? 



The Details of the Two Plans Followed for Cur- 

 ing an Apiary and Producing a Crop 

 of Honey at the Same Time. 



BY HENRY STEWART. 



Continued from last issue, page U17. 



Before taking up my methods of treating 

 foul brood, it might be well to confess that 

 they are not infallible, and I would liken 

 them to the cultivation of a field of corn. 

 If the conditions are favorable and the work 

 is properly done, the first cultivation should 

 get most of the weeds; but a few will be left 

 for a second and third, and even in the fall 

 a few weeds might be found although the 

 cro]) was secured. 



The conditions for the best results by my 

 methods of treating foul brood consist of a 

 good honey-flow. Without a honey-flow in 

 the honey-producing season I never attempt 

 to treat foul brood by any method. In the 

 spring, or as early as practicable, I make a 

 hasty examination of every colony by re- 

 moving one of the center combs and looking 

 for foul brood. Whenever I find it I tack 

 on the front of the hive a piece of section on 

 which is written the word "Foul." Early 

 in the spring I contract the entrance of ev- 

 ery hive, the foul-broody ones needing great- 

 er care than any of the rest. All weak colo- 

 nies should be united and the whole apiary 

 closely watched. The proverb, "An ounce 

 of prevention (to keep bees from robbing) is 

 worth a pound of cure," is never more true 

 than when watching foul brood. 



;My next operation is about the time of 

 the beginning of the first good honey-flow 

 — probably fruit-bloom. At this time I 

 again inspect every colony as before; and if 

 I find any new cases I mark them. At this 

 time nearly a half (and often more than 

 half) of the combs contain no brood, and in 

 the majority of these combs no trace of the 

 disease from the year before can be found. 

 I now go over all colonies marked "Foul" 

 as follows: I go to No. 1, remove the outside 

 combs that appear to be clean, take them to 

 No. 2; inspect first the outside combs, and 

 leave all that appear to be clean. I then 

 brush the bees from the others that are not 

 clean, and in their place fill in with clean 

 combs from hive No. 1. Then I mark this 

 hive (No. 2) with the letters "C. F." and 

 the date, meaning that this hive is cleaned 

 from foul-broody combs. After this I put 

 back in hive Xo. 1 the diseased combs and 

 brood that I removed from No. 2. I follow 

 this plan throughout the whole yard, taking 

 care that No. 1 has sufficient bees to care 

 for the additional amount of brood. If the 

 work is properly done a large percentage of 

 those marked "C. F." will remain clean. 



Any colonies that do not, will contract the 

 disease in a mild form; and unless all such 

 are strong enough they should be treated by 

 the second method. This second method 

 may be resorted to at any time during the 

 honey-flow when the individual colony has 

 sufficient strength to work in an extracting- 

 super. 



Referring again to the honey-board de- 

 scribed in my first article, I will now give 

 my reason for making the board of solid 

 wood with the exception of a strip of queen- 

 excluding zinc containing two rows of slots 

 lengthwise through the center of the board. 

 My reason for this is to prevent, as far as 

 possible, the sittings of diseased matter 

 down on to the brood-combs below from the 

 diseased combs above. If there is any thing 

 in this, it would appear that the Crane hon- 

 ey-board, as described in the December 15th 

 issue, 1908, having a solid center and queen- 

 excluding openings on each side, might be 

 just as effective, and i^ossibly more so, as 

 the sittings over the brood-nest would then 

 be more nearly shut off. 



My second method, referred to above, is 

 as follows: I prepare a hive with a set of 

 clean combs, or with full sheets of founda- 

 tion, in either case using a frame containing 

 some honey and a small amount of brood 

 taken from a healthy colony, placed in the 

 center of this newly prepared hive. I next 

 secure the queen and place her upon this 

 frame of brood, at the same time removing 

 the old hive from its bottom-board, putting 

 this new one on the old stand in its place. 

 As soon as the field bees have found their 

 queen in her new quarters I place my hon- 

 ey-board on top, and over it put the old hive 

 containing the diseased brood. Lastly I put 

 on the cover and then leave the hive alone 

 for two weeks, at the end of which time it is 

 well to remove any queen-cells that may 

 have been started in the upper hive. 



Right here I will mention one feature of 

 my honey-board that I did not say any 

 thing about. There is an opening through 

 the back end of the board, '2]4. inches long 

 by y% wide. This is to provide a flight-hole 

 so that the bees from the upper story can 

 work independently of those in the lower 

 story. These slots should be closed at the 

 start to force the workers through the new 

 brood-nest. The tendency is for the bees to 

 go to the brood and desert the queen. The 

 one comb of brood is put below in the new 

 brood-nest to offset this tendency and also 

 to prevent the queen from sulking, or leav- 

 ing the hive altogether. 



The set of foul-broody combs now becomes 

 an extracting-super, and it should be left 

 until all the brood is hatched and the combs 

 are filled with honey. If the bees need more 

 room, another story in extracting-combs 

 should be added; and when these combs are 

 filled with honey, it matters not how foul 

 they may have been, they are now, togeth- 

 er with the honey in the cells, as pure as 

 the purest. As soon as the new brood-nests 

 become well stocked with brood they should 

 be examined; and if in any of them foul 



